A Date
by Friendly Neighborhood Artist
Summary: Years after their high school graduation, Farkle calls Riley with a question. (Joshaya mentioned) Rated T for possible later chapters and to be safe.
1. A Phone Call

**Clearly I don't own Girl Meets World or it wouldn't have been cancelled and Riarkle would totally happen.**

Riley picked up the picture from her shelf to get a better look at it. The six of them looked so happy together in their graduation robes, and once more she wondered what exactly had happened. It had been two years since they had all graduated and gone to six different colleges. They'd all kept up with contact, but things just weren't the same. Lucas and she had crumbled under the pressure of long distance and so had Smackle and Farkle. They were all still friendly with each other though, thankfully. Maya and Josh had finally begun dating and they were still going strong, but that left Riley a little in the background of Maya's life. Her phone's ringtone startled her out of her thoughts.

"Hello?" She'd answered without looking at the caller id.

"Lady." It had been years since he'd referred to her in that tone, and she couldn't help but smile at the welcome caller.

"Farkle." She set the picture down and moved to sit on her dorm bed. She was glad that her roommate was gone at the moment; she didn't want to be teased about having three boyfriends again. Just because Lily didn't have any platonic guy friends didn't mean Riley couldn't have any. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Well," he sounded nervous. "I was wondering when you'd be free this weekend. I'm going to be in town for a little while."

She hoped he interpreted her screaming as happy screaming. Riley was attending NYU and was always in town. Her mother had encouraged her to live in the dorms for a couple years to get the full college experience. As far as Riley was concerned, the dorms sucked and she wanted to move back home. The commute wasn't that bad.

"I mean, yes that would be great. I'm free Friday night and most of the weekend. I have some homework but if you bring yours… wait, do you have homework?" With relief she could hear Farkle laughing on the other end of the line. Making him laugh was one of her favorite things to do. Over Skype she could at least see his smiles but she only had laughter to go off of on the phone like this.

"Yes, I have some homework, Riley."

"Great! If nothing else works we can do our homework together."

Farkle couldn't help it. He couldn't help smiling and laughing when they talked, no matter what kind of day he'd been having. He'd been in love with her since the first grade, and she was still his best friend. No matter what else had happened, he'd always understood her and she'd always understood him better than anyone. Including Smackle. Well, especially Smackle.

"Sure, Riley, but I was thinking more along the lines of dinner and a movie." He sounded nervous again, but why would he sound nervous? Wait…

"Wait, Farkle, did you just ask me out on a date?" She held her breath and tried to hold her emotions in check while he answered.

Holy crap, why was he this nervous? He shouldn't be this nervous. It was just Riley.

"Farkle? Are you still there?" Now she sounded nervous. This could alter everything. The six of them had finally found a good rhythm and this could change everything all over again.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm still here Riles." _Now or never, Minkus._ "That was me asking you on a date. Riley Matthews, will you go on a date with me this Friday night?"

He was asking her out. Immediately her heart jumped from her chest up to her throat and she wasn't sure how she felt about that. Did she like Farkle? She'd always known she loved him, but was it romantic? The thought had crossed her mind a few times in high school, but she'd been with Lucas and he'd been with Smackle. After their break-ups, a little voice had piped up about it again, but with him in New Jersey and getting over Smackle; it hadn't seemed like the best time to bring it up.

"Riles? Are you still there?"

She took a deep breath before answering him with a smile on her face. "Yes, Farkle. I'd love to go on a date with you this Friday." He silently fist pumped in celebration.

"Alright, when exactly are you free?"

"My last class on Friday ends at noon." She couldn't believe they were doing this. They were really planning a date.

"Alright, I'll pick you up around four. Will you be at your dorm or at your house?" He couldn't believe this was happening. They were really going on a date. A real, actual romantic date where they wanted to see if they could be a couple. It was all really happening. He was tempted to pinch himself to check if he was really awake or if he was simply dreaming.

"My house."

"See you then." He hung up the phone and did a small victory twirl. He was going on a date with Riley Matthews.

 **Short Introduction, I know, but hopefully I'll have the next chapter written and posted some time this weekend. Next week at the latest. Have a smiley day!**


	2. Hello

**Disclaimer: so obviously I don't own these characters.**

 **AN: Ok, I know I said I'd try to get this done quick and now it's been MONTHS… Would you believe me if I said anxiety was a b*tch? Thank you for your patience original subscribers.**

He was nervous. Why was he nervous? It was just Riley and they'd been on a date before. True, they'd been something like 13 at the time, but it had been a date. He pulled his art of Japan book out of his bag and began flipping through the pages to pass the time. As he thumbed through the book, not really concentrating on what he was seeing, the train carried him closer and closer to his destination. Princeton required arts and humanities courses, but not too many students pursued them past their freshman year. It was an Ivy League school, and art didn't have a long tradition of being a field of study for geniuses. Nevertheless, Farkle had found a real passion in the art classes he now made a point to take once a semester. At the end of this year he would have to present a thesis and he was trying to find a new and better way to preserve works. A more cost-effective way so that more and more pieces could be saved and analyzed. An automated voice came over the speakers telling Farkle that it was time for him to get off the train and face one Miss Riley Matthews.

"I can't believe you're finally going on a date with Farkle! I mean, I can believe it, but I did doubt him for a little bit there." Topanga was leaning against the door frame of her little girl's room as she turned in front of her mirror, examining the dress she had picked out.

"Mom!" Riley's voice sounded exasperated, but she couldn't keep a smile off her face. It was 3:40 and Farkle would be there soon.

"So you're finally dating Minkus, huh? My money was on him for the long game." Auggie pushed past his mother to launch himself onto Riley's bed. He was almost done with high school and was planning on following his big sister to NYU, but he was an undecided major. Every adult he'd met in the past year had asked him what he was planning on doing with his life. In his mind he always answered, 'Following Ava Morgernstern around like a lost little puppy.' She was attending NYU as well and had decided on journalism. She wanted to travel the world and tell the stories of the people around her. Riley flicked at his ankle as she adjusted her hair just a little bit more.

"I thought you liked that James guy I dated a little while ago. You said he reminded you of Lucas." Riley had always been on the lookout for love, and had dated quite a number of NYU students since her break-up with Lucas. None of them had seemed to last more than three dates though.

"He did remind me of Lucas. He even had a Southern accent, but I never thought that you and Lucas were end game. You and Farkle. All the way." Even though it had happened a couple years ago, Riley was still getting used to Auggie's new and deeper voice.

"Really? I thought her and Lucas were pretty good together."

"Dad! Ok, everybody out! Out, out, out! Farkle's going to be here soon and I need to not be screaming at you when he gets here." Respectfully, the Matthews left Riley's room, Auggie shouting something over his shoulder about going to hang out with Ava.

Riley took a deep breath as she studied herself in her mirror. Farkle was one of her best friends. He'd always been there for her. This was going to be OK. There was no need to be nervous; he might not even find out. Oh, who was she kidding? Farkle knew her better than she knew herself sometimes. It was only a matter of time before he found out, and all she could hope for was a good reaction.

"Wow," a voice coming from her window broke into her thoughts, and as she whirled around she saw Farkle climbing in. His eyes kept roaming over her body as the smile on his face grew and grew.

"You look amazing, Riles." He stepped forward, extending his arms towards her and she immediately stepped into the embrace. Holding her like this felt way more natural than holding any other girl had felt. She exhaled as her cheek rested against his shoulder. All her nervous energy seemed to drain out of her as she felt his arms, solid and unmoving, surround her.

"What are you doing here? I kind of thought that you'd use the front door for this." She pulled back from him, laughing.

"Well, I'm going to. I just wanted to come see you before your whole family saw me seeing you. I haven't seen you in so long, and I just wanted a moment before we went on our… date." He was blushing now and Riley couldn't help but smile back, "so are you good? Ready?"

Riley could only nod and smile back at the boy with the sparkling grey eyes. He nodded back and turned around to leave via the window before he did something stupid. He still wasn't entirely sure why he had come in through the window instead of just showing up at the front door like a normal person. He'd been halfway up the fire escape before he realized what he was doing, and at that point he had decided to just go through with it. If he had been nervous before, he wasn't now. Seeing and holding her had calmed him just enough to turn his nerves into excitement. He was going on a date with Riley Matthews. This was actually happening.

Riley turned back to face her reflection and held her hands up to her flushed cheeks. He had surprised her. She should just tell him. He would be able to tell that she was keeping something from him and this wasn't a big deal. It was just depression with a touch of anxiety. Her therapist kept telling her that it was nothing to be ashamed of, that she had come a long way, and there was no reason to believe that she wouldn't be able to lead a relatively "normal" life. They'd talked a great deal about the word normal as well. Ms. Nelson was even recommending that Riley come off her meds soon. She should just tell him before it became a whole big thing. But what if it never came up? What if they were having a perfectly nice evening and then she just brought the mood down by talking about her depression? It wasn't a big deal. It wasn't even major depression or whatever. She was almost done with it. Ms. Nelson said her kind only lasted a couple years, and it had been at least that long that she'd been feeling like this.

"Riles!" Her mother's voice cut through her anxious, internal ramblings, "There's someone here for you!" She could already hear the smile in her mother's voice. It was a date, and it was supposed to be fun. Riley put her smile back on and headed out the door.

 **Alright, I think one or two more chapters and this will be finished! Hope you're all having a good summer break.**


	3. Confession

**I know, I know, I'm the worst. But this isn't going to a terribly long fic. Clearly I don't own GMW or any of its characters.**

"So what do you think about an early dinner and then a movie?" The pair were making their way down a New York sidewalk, towards a subway station. Farkle had managed to get Riley out of her family's apartment without too much of a fuss. After the initial ooh's and aah's, Riley had pushed past her parents and grabbed Farkle by the hand, pulling him down the hallway and sparing him from the 'dad' talk that Mr. Matthews and looked close to giving.

"Yeah, that sounds fine, Farkle. I'm not in the mood for anything particular, so you can just pick." Riley was still absorbed in her thoughts and hadn't noticed that she was still holding Farkle's hand. This information had not escaped Farkle, nor had Riley's apparent disinterest in anything.

"Riles," He pulled her to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk, ignoring all the protests around him. "What's wrong? What are you thinking about?" She almost laughed. She'd known all along that he would be able to tell that something was wrong, but she hadn't known that it was going to take him all of two seconds to figure it out.

"Um, if I tell you it might ruin our plans or our night." She wasn't looking him in the eye. She'd thought she might have to tell him at some point in the night, but not right away. This wasn't going at all like she'd thought it would or should.

"Riley, we can always see a movie and have some food. You're more important to me than that." He reached up and brushed some hair away from her face. "I know exactly where to go for a talk. C'mon." And then he was pulling on her hand, leading her further down the street. A smile began tugging on her lips as he tugged her along. They didn't talk until they were both seated on the subway.

"You dragged me all the way here. I liked it!" He laughed at the memory and studied her face. She looked just like the same old Riley. Same old dark hair, same old dark eyes, same old dimples when she smiled, but she wasn't smiling as much as he remembered. There was something in her eyes, a wall or a distance that he wasn't used to seeing there. There was definitely something wrong, and his only hope was that she would tell him everything and soon.

"Oh my gosh, I remember that. You liked Lucas then, didn't you? How has he been, do you know?" He hadn't heard from the Texan in quite a while. After he and Riley had ended things, Lucas had largely cut off contact with Farkle, Maya and most other members of the group. It didn't necessarily help that Lucas had chosen to pursue a higher education in his home state, too far away for any kind of regular visiting schedule.

Riley let out a breath at the mention of her ex-boyfriend's name. It wasn't a sucker punch like it had been for the first few months after their breakup, but it still felt weird to think or talk about him. She'd given so much to him, spent so much time with him, and now it was just all over. Sure, they'd talk every now and again, but he was no longer her close friend or her true love anymore. There'd been a time where she thought he'd come back to her, but then she had realized that she didn't want that anymore. Ms. Nelson was very proud of Riley's break though that day.

"Yeah, I did. He's good. We talked a few weeks ago. Just about every month or so he'll text or call or Skype me, catch up on things. His fiancé is really nice and he's doing well in all his classes. He's set up to get his master's in veterinary science. I forget where exactly he said he was going, but he was excited." It was hard sometimes, remembering that everybody else was on their last year of college, while she still had another year to go.

"Oh wow, fiancé, huh? That's weird to think about. I guess we are adults now and it's the time for marriage and things." He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. He'd briefly contemplated putting his arm around her, but now that seemed like an odd thing to do now that they'd talked about marriage and things.

"What about Smackle? Hear much from her these days?" He waited for the punch to his gut that meant he'd heard her name, but now, when Riley spoke her name, he was free from that awful sensation. His father had told him that the heartache would pass, but Farkle hadn't felt like it was heartache for a long time. It was just an ache in his gut that would reawaken every time he thought of her. He missed her. He missed having someone who knew him inside and out in his life. Looking over at Riley, Farkle came to the realization that he missed having a best friend.

"We don't talk too much. Last I heard, she had gone into bio-medical, working on the cure for cancer or something. I know she went on a date with Zay, but I don't know if it turned into anything." She nodded, taking in the information. She'd never thought that her and Farkle would stay together for as long as they did. They were just too similar, and for two people as smart as they were, they needed someone to push them and challenge them to grow without making the other feel inferior.

"Oh, this is our stop." Farkle pointed towards the doors and helped his date to her feet. Together, they made their way out of the train and then out of the subway station. Once they were out in the open air again, Farkle grabbed her hand once again, leading her to their destination.

"Are we going to Central Park?" She was holding back laughter as she saw the familiar greenery approaching.

"Maybe," he gave a half smirk as he continued pulling her in the right direction. He was thankful that it was such a nice day outside. There didn't seem to be as many people around either; he didn't think Riley would appreciate an audience for whatever she was going to tell him. Maybe that look on Mr. Matthew's face hadn't been him wanting to give Farkle the 'dad' talk, but maybe a warning. He found the bench he'd been looking for and motioned for her to sit down.

"So, what about Riley? What's going on with her?" He studied her face as she collected her thoughts. She opened her mouth to respond, but instead of her voice, he heard an electronic sound.

"Oh, well that's perfect timing, actually." She reached into her bag to retrieve a few things. What she came up with was her phone, which she silenced, a bottle of pills and a bottle of water. "I was going to tell you that it's a reminder for me to study that I forgot to turn off, but it's not. It's a reminder to take one of these." As she threw a pill down her throat, chased by water, Farkle tried to make sense of the situation. To say that he was confused would have been an understatement.

"What… Why are you taking medication, Riles?" She carefully placed the items back in her bag as she thought about how best to respond to his question. She turned towards him and found his grey eyes already locked on hers, confusion and worry blatant as he searched her eyes for answers.

"It's for my… My depression, Farkle. I, uh, I've been diagnosed with depression." She couldn't look him in the eye as she said it. He felt as if all the air had been sucked from his lungs, all from that one word. He'd heard stories of college students developing depression and anxiety. Hell, high school students were showing signs and symptoms more and more these days, but he'd never known… Well, nobody had ever told him they had depression. Sure, people got depressed. He'd been depressed, but depression automatically triggered suicide in Farkle's mind and that just didn't compute. None of this made any sort of sense. His Riley. His beautiful, smiley, positive, optimistic Riley had depression?

"How… How long?" Once he had swallowed and he felt like he could breathe again, he asked the question that had been going through his mind non-stop since she'd said the word.

"They're not sure. Ms. Nelson thinks it could've really developed somewhere between eighth and ninth grade, but it wasn't bad until college. Ms. Nelson is my therapist. I uh, also have some anxiety things to work through, but I'm getting better. She thinks that soon I'll be able to go off my meds. Especially since summer is right around the corner. I'm OK now Farkle. I promise." Red, hot anger flared up inside his chest as he watched the girl sitting next to him.

"No. You don't get to just keep something like this to yourself and then try to tell me that you're all better now because I know you, and I know that you're not OK right now. You're sitting here telling me that you have depression that you take medication for and you won't even look me in the eye, Riley." His voice was quiet, but she could hear the anger laced in his words. This was exactly why she hadn't wanted to tell anyone. This was exactly the reason why she hadn't told her parents when she first stopped going to her classes; she hated disappointing people.

She didn't notice the shakiness of his timbre.

"I'm sorry, Farkle. I told you it would ruin the night. I'll see you later." She tried to stand up, but Farkle was already kneeling in front of her and she had no choice but to look at him, at the tears that were sitting in his eyes. They hadn't spilled over yet, but they were close.

"What are you talking about, Riley? You think I'm going to leave you alone after you tell me that? You're… You're my best friend Riles. I'm… I was only mad that you hadn't told me, that you hadn't let me in." He reached up to touch her face, to hold her in any way. He should've known. He should've been able to tell. After all, it had been him to figure her out so many times before. Whenever Riley was hurting, he'd been the one to notify her friends; he'd been the one who noticed.

"Please, don't go home yet." This time, she heard his voice waver over the syllables, and she nodded. Farkle had always been one to surprise her, and she wasn't sure why she had thought that this time would be any different. Honestly, her brain was still trying to catch up to the image of Farkle kneeling in front of her with tears in his eyes, and this was after she'd just gotten over the shock of seeing Farkle with actual muscle definition in his arms.

"You can ask me any question you want, Farkle." He moved back to his spot on the bench next to her, but kept a hand on her this time. All of a sudden she felt so fragile, like she could blow away at any second. This was when he finally noticed how much skinnier she had become. Riley had never been big, she'd been too tall, and she didn't look too bad right now, but she was smaller. Smaller than he thought she probably should be, and yet he felt like she'd recently been putting on some weight. He got the feeling that this was what recovering Riley looked like, and that he didn't know what rock bottom Riley looked like. He remembered all those months she'd said no to Skyping, complaining that her laptop was broken.

"Does Maya know?" He almost laughed. If Maya knew, she would be here right now. She would've told everybody. She would've made Riley talk, and maybe Riley wouldn't have needed medication. But Maya wasn't here anymore.

"No. Only my parents, Auggie and my doctors know."

"Tell me what happened." She took a deep breath before she spoke.

"I stopped going to class. It just got to be so hard to get up and shower and put on clothes and talk to people and take notes and do assignments. I don't know how long I just laid in bed, day after day. My roommate had moved out so nobody knew. I hadn't made good enough friends so nobody checked up on me. I didn't tell my parents or anybody because I worried about what they would think of me. I couldn't stop worrying about other people, and that just helped pushed me down into bed ever harder. Eventually, I flunked out and I had to move back home in the middle of sophomore year. That's when my parents found out. They took me to a doctor and they diagnosed me. I took a gap year. They put me on meds, signed me up for a therapist. They even tried to get me to go to a support group. I just didn't know how to be me anymore." She looked over at Farkle who was stoically taking the story in. The tears were gone and he was gripping her hand tightly. "I had to try a few different kinds of meds to find one that worked for me, but eventually they started working. I found a therapist I liked, and I re-enrolled at NYU. I'm a year behind everybody, but that's all. I'm doing better. I really am. Ms. Nelson thinks that I just need to learn some coping mechanisms and try really hard to stay motivated through the winter. She says that college is one of the most stressful times in anybody's life and if I make it through this, I can make it through anything. I'm even almost off my meds, which is wonderful to think about." She looked back over at him, and then he was engulfing her in another hug.

"You're so much stronger than I ever thought you were, Riles." His voice was muffled by her hair, and she wondered just when his hugs had gotten so good. When was it that this boy had gained the ability to calm her just by holding her hand.

"Thank you for telling me, Riley. How are you feeling?" She sat back and reached up to wipe a tear away from his cheek.

"I'm feeling good. What about you?" He smiled down at her and kissed the knuckles of her hand.

"Good. How do you feel about a slight change in plans?" She quirked an eyebrow up at him.

 **Heavy chapter, I know, but fluff is coming! I think one more chapter and then an epilogue.**


	4. A Date

**I don't own GMW.**

"What are you even doing?" Riley was choking on her own laughter and just barely managed to get the words out as Farkle continued to flail about, pretending to dance.

"I'm dancing. Duh!" He'd brought her back to his place after their emotional talk in the park. He'd felt as though he didn't want to be around other people after that and he got the impression that Riley wasn't feeling particularly social right about then either. They'd gotten some Chinese takeout on their way back, and had since watched a movie and started a dance party. Riley was now laughing while laying on the floor.

"That is not dancing, Farkle." He laughed with her and fell down beside her, and the two looked up at his ceiling, gazing at the stars they found there.

"I'm studying astronomy. I think I'm going to try to be science teacher like my dad." Farkle looked over at the brunette and the sudden information. Throughout the date, she'd slowly become more and more like the Riley that he remembered and less like the nervous, quiet Riley she'd been when he picked her up.

"I'm studying art. I'm trying to find a better way to preserve and view really old works. After that, I want to help find a better way to identify when and who did what paintings." She turned to look at him and found his grey eyes already gazing at her.

"I never would've pegged you for an art guy, Farkle." It felt good to smile and to mean it. She couldn't clearly remember the last time she'd felt this relaxed and happy.

"Neither would I, but here we are." He attempted a shrug in his lateral state, but it only served to crumple up his shirt even more.

"Here we are." It felt like he was going to kiss her, and she didn't know how she felt about that. On the one hand, she definitely loved being with Farkle. He made her laugh and he seemed to accept her as she was just as he always had. He made her feel happy and safe, but what if she wasn't IN love with him. What if she just loved him as a friend? Would it screw up their friendship for her to not realize how she felt only after he'd kissed her? They've already gone on a date-

"Hey!" He clapped in front of her face and she blinked, returning to the present. "Where'd you go? What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing. Do you have a favorite artist?" She smiled at him again, but it wasn't a genuine smile. She'd gotten into her head now, and there was no turning back. He studied her face and looked as though he was thinking hard about something.

"No. You were thinking about something. I think you should tell me what you were thinking about, unless you're really uncomfortable doing that." Worry was flooding through his eyes and she was immediately worried. She hated upsetting him.

"It's really nothing, Farkle."

"Hey, don't do that. We talked about you pushing me out. Something's bothering you, and I don't think you should say that it's nothing because it's clearly not nothing." He reached forward to stroke the side of her face.

"I just… I was just thinking about how I felt about you, Farkle. That's all." She turned so that she was looking at the stars again instead of his face.

"Oh," Well, that hadn't been what he'd thought she'd say. He wasn't sure what she'd say, but it hadn't been that. "How do you feel about me?"

"I'm not sure, Farkle. I feel good things. All good things. I'm just… You don't want to hear all this." She brought her hands up to her face, covering it.

"That's where you're wrong, Riles. I want to hear about everything you think about." He'd read a few articles about anxiety since so many college students seemed to be developing it, and he wanted to be able to help someone through it if he was ever put in a position to help someone. Talking it out was found to help quite a few people who got trapped in a loop of anxious thinking, and it looked like Riley might've found herself in a loop.

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and found a smiling, positive Farkle face looking back at her, so she took a deep breath. "I'm just not sure. You make me feel happy and safe and good which I haven't felt in a while and that's got to mean something, right? But what if I only love you as a friend and I'm not IN love with you, you know romantically? Am I screwing our whole relationship up right now? And then I thought about what if you kissed me, and what if that's how I found out how I felt about you, and wouldn't that just be awful? Waiting until you've already kissed me to find out if I want to kiss you back or not? I think that would just be the worst, and then I got to thinking about how we've only gone on like half a date, since this date hasn't ended yet and wouldn't that be rushing things to kiss in the middle of the first date? But plenty of people kiss when they've haven't even gone a date and would it really be rushing it? We've known each other for like 12 years. That's like half my life so really you would've waited 12 years for a kiss, but I guess Maya would say that we've already kissed. Except I didn't really kiss you back and it was weird and kinda sucked, and I'm not so sure that I count that as my first kiss. Anyways, the whole point of this was my wondering if I loved you platonically or romantically and how do I find out which way I love you and how do I not hurt you? Yeah. I think that's all." She'd been gesturing around while she spoke and now that she appeared to be done, her arms fell down to be back by her sides.

"Riley Matthews, you have an incredible, vast and complex mind. You thought of all that in a minute?" At first, he'd been worried about what she would say about him, but somewhere near the middle he had just fallen in awe of everything she was listing off.

"Uh… yes?" She looked over at him and found him still smiling over at her, seemingly amazed. She'd expected him to be upset about it or something.

"Well, first things first, you don't need to worry about me and what I think and feel, OK? It's important that you figure out what you feel regardless of how I feel. Worry about you, and then when you have you figured out or mostly figured out then you can worry about me. You can help me if you need help too. Secondly, Riley, I've loved you since the first grade. We've been friends for this long, and we'll keep being friends no matter what. You're too important to me to give up on. We can take this as slow as you need. If you want to stop, you just tell me and we will. This is your relationship too." The two shared a smile as he reached over for her hand. She happily intertwined their fingers as they both looked back up at the stars. "Do you have any constellations memorized?"

"Yeah. You've got one of my favorites up here." He wiggled around so that their heads were closer together.

"Show me." She obliged and lifted her finger to point off to the right a little bit. "See that one over there? It's a little brighter than the rest and it's next to the milky way."

"Yeah, I see it."

"That's Vega, or the Weaver Girl. That star over across the way is Altair, the herder." He followed her finger as she pointed to different places on his ceiling.

"What's their story?"

"Well, there have been a few different variations, but the main points are the same. It's an old Chinese legend. One day, a long time ago, a beautiful Weaver Girl and a strong Herder fell deeply in love with each other. For debated reasons, the girl's parents didn't approve of the match and conspired to tear the couple apart. One night, they created a river between the two lovers, making sure that the girl and the herder were on separate sides."

"Why is it that parents never approve of true love in all these old stories?" She laughed at his strange, yet valid question.

"I guess because marrying for love is a relatively new concept. A lot of cultures had arranged marriages to benefit both or one family socially, politically, or economically. Somehow, all these people in legends fell in love with someone who would not benefit the family in one of these ways. Anyways, the Weaver Girl and the Herder were separated and both wept and were very sad."

"They didn't build a bridge?" Farkle, ever the pragmatist, was confused by this turn of events.

"I'm getting to that. Hold on. Since neither of them knew how to build a bridge or had the materials to do so, it seemed that they would be separated for eternity. However, the crows took pity on them and for one night a year they would fly together so tightly that they formed a bridge and united the two lovers. The end."

"That's it? They're deeply in love and they only get one night out of the whole year together? That is so not enough time to do anything."

"Just what do you think they're doing in that night, Farkle Minkus?" She propped herself up on her elbows to better look at the genius and watch the blush spread across his cheeks as he caught her meaning.

"I meant more along the lines of talking and catching each other up on what happened the past year. We've talked all night before, and we talk all the time." He pulled himself up into a seated position as well.

"You're right, and you bring up a point I think about all the time. How big was the river? Sure, they can't get to each other, but is it so big that they can't even see or talk to each other? That's a really big river, and then how many crows does it take to bridge the two together? I need this legend to have more details." He laughed at her as she checked her phone. What she found was not encouraging. It was 3 am and she had 10 missed calls from her mother and 14 unread texts between her father and Auggie. How had she missed all of that?

"What's wrong?"

"It's 3. I need to get home, Farkle." She looked up at him with those big brown eyes of hers as he scrambled to check his own phone. Why hadn't his parents told him that it was so late? Surely, they didn't expect her to spend the night over at their place.

"Mom?" He looked up and found that she had gotten up and was holding the phone to her ear. "No, I'm fine. I'm sorry. I didn't hear my phone going off. I'm really sorry. No, I'm still with Farkle. He didn't know how late it had gotten either. We're just at his place. We watched a movie or two and then had a dance party. C'mon, Mom, you know Farkle. Nothing bad happened. Yeah, I'm coming home now." She looked back over at him with an exasperated smile painted across her face. He smiled back and motioned her towards the door, leading her out of his house and into the New York night. "I promise. I'm moving right now. I'll be home soon. I'm sorry for making you worry. Why you're worried, I don't know. It's just Farkle, Mom. Mom. Mom! Topanga Matthews! I'm shocked at you. Alright, goodbye. I love you." She gave an eye roll and he smirked in recognition. Mothers.

Once she had gotten back to her apartment alright and her mother had run a full check over her daughter, Riley flopped down on her bed. One of the first things she did, once there, was pull out her phone to text Maya. She hadn't told the blonde about the date because she was unsure of how she would take it, but now she had to tell her. She just didn't know what exactly to tell her. She was just working out what exactly she wanted to say when she heard footsteps out on the fire escape.

 _No way,_ she thought as she made her way over to the bay window only to see Farkle appear once more.

"What are you doing here?" He clambered inside her room with a nervous smile on his face.

"I just wanted to… to try something. You tell me to stop whenever you want, OK?" She raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him before nodding. Slowly, he walked closer to her until they were practically touching noses, and then he brought his hands up to her face, running a thumb across her cheekbones before finally tilting his head and closing the distance between them. She'd known what he was going to do as soon as he'd moved closer, but she hadn't stopped him. She'd thought about it, and she'd almost said it when he held her face and she realized he was breathing irregularly, but she didn't. She couldn't. She wanted to know. She wanted to know what it would be like to kiss Farkle Minkus. And then Farkle Minkus was kissing her. And then she was kissing him back. It felt like everything was exploding yet everything was completely still. She couldn't think while his lips were so soft and doing that wonderful thing they were doing. He made a surprised little sound when her arms went around him and she began to deepen the kiss, but just as quickly his arms were encircling her and they were both lost to the kiss. Kissing Riley Matthews was everything he had thought it might be, but ten times better. Sometime later when they pulled apart and their foreheads were pressed together and Farkle's hands were tangled up in Riley's hair, she came to a realization.

"You, Farkle Minkus, are my best friend and I love kissing you. What are you doing tomorrow afternoon?"

The only thing she sent to Maya later that night was, "I just made out with Farkle Minkus."

The next morning she saw Maya had texted her back. All it said was "about time."

 **I don't think I'm going to do the epilogue I thought I might. Long story short, in my AU, they get married. It's beautiful and they love each other a whole bunch. Hope you enjoyed.**


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